More News from the Poker Front

Man, you’d think now that school is out I’d have more time on my hands to blog! But between moving, and work, and unpacking my life is more hectic than ever! So, I return to the blog-o-sphere with more news about Internet Poker.

Yep, that’s right. The Department of Justice handed down more indictments for operators of online poker and ten more domain names were seized, including most notably doylesroom.com which is run by poker great Doyle Brunson. Now, the newest word from online poker players in the US is that many of them are considering a move to Canada in order to continue their online poker careers. According to an article on casinocitytimes.com, Daniel Negraneu, who is a dual citizen of the US and Canada is considering splitting his time between his homes in Las Vegas and Toronto in order to continue his online poker career. Currently, all online poker players in the US who earned their living by playing poker online have been unemployed since April and roughly $400 million is tied up in the poker sites that have been seized. Initially, it was thought that American online poker players would start to bring their business to live games, however, it seems here that with no legislation in sight they are more interested in fleeing the country to continue their careers.

In more local news, the Nevada Senate committee has approved an internet poker bill. According to an article published in the Las Vegas Review Journal, the bill “authorizes the Nevada Gaming Commission to adopt regulations and to grant licenses to casinos to be ready to offer online poker if Congress passes an Internet gambling bill or if the U.S. Department of Justice says online gaming is allowed under federal law.”

What remains to be seen is when and if the government is going to take some action on this issue! Some say that the indictments are the stepping stone on the way to legislation, others say the issue will get so locked up in the political system that we may never see legislation. I am tending to lean towards the latter. Of course, we are approaching an election year, and lord knows people don’t want to rock the boat when they’re up for re-election. Which is just stupid in my decision, as are most things in politics, but I guess that’s a topic for another day.

So, I pose the question to you, my readers…how do you feel about this issue now that it’s had some time to sink in? Do you think the government will move forward with legislation or do you think the issue will never get through the legal system and made into law? Do you think the US will see a “mass” exodus of poker players to countries where this is legal? Or do you think the creative minds will find some way to still play online for money despite the domain seizures and lawsuits?

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2 Responses to "More News from the Poker Front"

Love these poker posts, Erin.
As a poker player who keeps up with these things, and a live player almost exclusively, I feel that the online pros are choosing the option to move to another country instead of playing live because most are unwilling/unable to make the transition to successful live play. Namely, it’s very difficult to successfully go from multi-tabling up to 12, 16, even 20 or more more tables to playing one game at a time. Not impossible, just difficult, and many of these young pros have spent virtually no time playing live, so there is no way they could have learned the necessary live skills since April 15th. Maybe they’ve tried it once or twice, found it unbearable, and decided, I’m moving to Canada!
Fine by me.

Wayne,
Thanks for the comment and thanks for joining the conversation. Do you play much online poker? Were you affected by the events of and following Black Friday? I’m not a gambler at all, but working in a gaming environment I am exposed to all types and this whole situation is very interesting to me. I agree that it is a very hard transition to go from being an online poker player to a live player overnight.

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This blog is devoted to the gaming industry news and information - keeping you up to date on the happenings in the gaming world. My personal expertise lies in event planning and entertainment in casinos.

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